PS 1668 



1896 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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HE time is coming when Eugene 
Field will be gossiped about as 
is Charles Lamb 

—George W. Cable 






lUGENEB 
iHELD 



An Auto-Analysis 




Chicago: A. D. Eighteen 
Hundred and Ninety-Six 



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OF THIS EDITION BUT THREE HUNDRED 
AND FIFTY COPIES WERE PRINTED FROM 
TYPE. EACH COPY IS NUMBERED, AND THIS 
BOOK IS NUMBER 



INTRODUCTION 




S EUGENE FIELD 
rose in literary im- 
portance he was so 
importuned by peo- 
ple for autographs, 
sentiments, verses 
of his poems, for the poems them- 
selves, for scraps of information of 
whatever nature concerning him- 
self, that in 1894 he had printed a 
four-page pamphlet setting forth 
most of the facts of his career up 
to date. 

This curious but most interest- 
ing document also gave a truthful 
and vivid description of his per- 
sonal appearance, his tastes and 
distastes and tells, too, of his favor- 
ite authors and composers, actor 
and actress; his dislike of poUtics 



and his hatred for war and opposi- 
tion to capital punishment; his fear 
to indulge himself from pecuniary- 
considerations, in a growing taste 
for sculpture and painting, and, 
curious statement, for Field was 
rhythmic to his finger tips, his lim- 
ited love of music. 

He analyses his feeling for chil- 
dren, a most interesting proceed- 
ing from one who has written such 
beautiful love songs of childhood, 
and tells us that they interested 
him only so far as he found he could 
make pets of them — the fact being 
that nobody's babes interested 
him, naturally, so much as his own, 
with a goodly number of which 
Dame Nature and Mrs. Field had 
not failed to supply him. 




IE would have the 
privilege of fran- 
chise extended to all 
women and recalls 
with pride that in 
nearly a quarter of a 
century he had written in reveren- 
tial praise of womankind. 

He gives us a chronological list 
of his publications which is incor- 
rect in the particular that it omits 
the name of the book issued in 
1891 — Echoes from the Sabine 
Farm — which issue antedated the 
McClurg pubHcation nearly two 
years. 

Though written with a smile, 
this auto-analysis of Field's comes 
strikingly near the truth. 



Confessedly careless in dress — 
matters of the mind and heart 
being of greater importance to 
him— Field was rather methodical 
than otherwise in all other rela- 
tions of life. 

He had a just appreciation of the 
letters and of bits of manuscript 
material of people who were emi- 
nent or who were likely to arrive 
at distinction in the world, and he 
constantly impressed upon friends 
and acquaintances the importance 
of preserving all such data. 

I never saw him but he would 
question me as to any interview 
or association I had with Edwin 
Booth,Lawrence Barrett, Sir Henry 
Irving, Joseph Jefferson, W. H. 
Crane, Stuart Robson, or any 



fellow-player who had attained 
celebrity and would be most solic- 
itous as to whether I had written 
down my remembrances and im- 
pressions of the men and the 
occasions. 

He thought it little less than 
criminal to neglect an opportunity 
to record what might ultimately 
prove of exceeding interest. 

Out of this feeling came the 
Auto-Analysis. It was no unusual 
vanity that prompted Field to write 
it. Mr. Joseph Jefferson once said 
to me that all clever men knew 
they were clever. Vanity 
did not consist in know- 
ing one's cleverness 
but in parad- 
ing it. 




O FIELD felt. He 
knew that if the 
world took an inter- 
est in him, and it 
unquestionably did, 
it would want facts 
concerning him and he determined 
the world should receive them at 
first hand — from himself. 

This, as I believe, was the real 
reason he issued the Auto- Analysis 
and, beside exemplifying Field's 
forethought and methodicalness, 
it served his stated purpose to 
" give these facts, confessions and 
observations for the information 
of those who, for one reason or 
another, are constantly applying 
to me for biographical data con- 
cerning myself." 



Of Field's first publication, The 
Tribune Primer, Denver, 1882, he 
has written on the fly leaf of one of 
the books, that the whole number 
printed did not exceed fifty. It is 
the scarcest of his publications. I 
can see the smile in his eye and the 
smirk on his lip as he wrote with 
respect to the book that it was 
"Very, very scarce." 

The Model Primer which was 
printed by Tredwell of Brooklyn 
and cleverly illustrated by Hoppin, 
is also much sought for by collec- 
tors and commands a good price. 

It was something of an annoy- 
ance to Field that neither this nor 
his subsequent publication. Cul- 
ture's Garland, ever yielded satis- 
factory monetary returns. 




jHERE were also six 
uncut issues of Cul- 
ture's Garland. In 
his own copy he, in 
verse humorously 
deplores having 
written the book. It is composed 
of Field's newspaper articles of a 
satirical and humorous character. 
Julian Hawthorne wrote the intro- 
duction. 

The Echoes from the Sabine 
Farm was first privately printed 
by the writer of these lines in 1891. 
One hundred copies only were 
made — thirty on Japan and sev- 
enty on hand-made paper. The 
initials were illuminated through- 
out and there was a vignette head- 
piece to each poem. E. H. Garrett 



did the drawing, and W. H. W. 
Bicknell the etched title page. For 
each of the Japan paper copies Eu- 
gene Field and his brother Ros- 
well M. Field wrote autograph 
poems. 

Field often promised his friend, 
Frank M. Morris, that he would 
write an introduction to this Auto- 
Analysis, and that Morris should 
publish the whole matter, not so 
much as an evidence of regard as 
a manifestation of good faith on 
Field's part. But, along with his 
proposed Life of Horace which 
never fructified, went his intentions 
with regard not only to the Intro- 
duction but a host of other projects 
of a literary nature never alas to 
see the light ! 

FRANCIS WILSON. 



EUGENE FIELD 




WAS born in St. Louis, 
Missouri, September 
3rd, 1850, the second, 
and oldest surviving, 
son of Roswell Martin 
and Frances (Reed) 
Field, both natives of 
Windham County, 
Vermont. 

Upon the death of 
my mother (1856) I 
was put in the care 
of my (paternal) cous- 
in, Miss Mary Field 
French, at Amherst, 
Massachusetts. 

In 1865, I entered 
the Private School of 
Rev. James Tufts, 



Monson, Massachusetts, and there 
fitted for Williams College, 
which institution I en- 
tered as a freshman 
in 1868. 



ir 




PON my father's 
death, in 1869, I en- 
tered the sopho- 
more class of Knox 
College, Galesburg-, 
Illinois, my guar- 
dian, John W. Burgess, now of 
Columbia College, being then a 
professor in that institution. 

But in 1870 I went to Columbia, 
Missouri, and entered the State 
University there, and completed 
my junior year with my brother. 

In 1872, I visited Europe, spend- 
ing six months and my patrimony 
in France, Italy, Ireland and Eng- 
land. 

In May, 1873, 1 became a reporter 
on the St Louis Evening Journal. 



In October of that year I married 
Miss Julia Sutherland Comstock 
(born in Chenango County, New 
York) of St. Joseph, Missouri, 
at that time a girl of sixteen. 
We have had eight chil- 
dren — three daugh- 
ters and five 
sons. 




^ Y newspaper con- 
nections have been 
as follows : 1875-76, 
city editor of the 
St. Joseph, Mis- 
souri, Gazette; 
1876-80, editorial writer on the 
St. Louis Journal and St. Louis 
Times-Journal; 1880-81, managing 
editor of the Kansas City Times ; 
1881-83, managing editor of the 
Denver Tribune. 

Since 1883 I have been a con- 
tributor to the Chicago Record 
(formerly Morning News). 

I wrote and published my first 
bit of verse in 1879; it was entitled 
"Christmas Treasures" (see Little 
Book of Western Verse). Just ten 



years later I began suddenly to 
write verse very frequently; mean- 
while (1883-89), I had labored dili- 
gently at writing short stories 
and tales. 

Most of these I revised half a 

dozen times. One (The Were- 

Wolf), as yet unpublished, I 

have re -written eight 

times during the 

last eight 

years. 




y publications have 
been chronologic- 
ally, as follows : 

I. The Tribune 
Primer; Denver, 
1882. (Out of print, 
very scarce). (The Model Primer ; 
illustrated by Hoppin; Tredway, 
Brooklyn, 1882. A Pirate edition.) 

2. Culture's Garland; Ticknor, 
Boston, 1887. (Out of print.) 

A Little Book of Western Verse; 
Chicago, 1892. (Large paper, pri- 
vately printed and limited.) 

A Little Book of Profitable Tales, 
Chicago, 1889. (Large paper, pri- 
vately printed and limited.) 

3. A Little Book of Western 
Verse ; Scribners, New York, 1890. 




LITTLE Book of 
Profitable Tales; 
Scribners, New 
York, 1890. 

5. With Trumpet 
and Drum; Scrib- 
ners, New York, 1892. 

6. Second Book of Verse; Scrib- 
ners, New York, 1893. 

7. Echoes from The Sabine 
Farm. Translations of Horace; 
McClurg, Chicago, 1893. (In col- 
laboration with my brother, Ros- 
well Martin Field.) 

8. Introduction to Stone's First 
Editions of American Authors; 
Cambridge, 1893. 

9. The Holy Cross and other 
Tales; Stone and Kimball; Cam- 
bridge, 1893. 



Ill health compelled me to visit 

Europe in 1889 ; there I remained 

fourteen months, that time 

being divided between 

England, Germany, 

Holland and 

Belgium. 



■^ 




JT^Y residence at pres- 
ent is in Buena 
Park, a north shore 
suburb of Chicago. 
I have a miscel- 
laneous collection 
of books numbering 3,500, and I 
am fond of the quaint and curious 
in every line. 

I am very fond of dogs, birds and 
all small pets — a passion not ap- 
proved of by my wife. 

My favorite flower is the carna- 
tion, and I adore dolls. 

My favorite hymn is " Bounding 
Billows." 

My favorites in fiction are Haw- 
thorne's "Scarlet Letter," "Don 
Quixote" and "Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress." 



Andersen's Tales, 
and I am deeply in- 
terested in folk- 
lore and fairy tales. 
I believe in ghosts, in witches and 
in fairies. 

I should like to own a big as- 
tronomical telescope, and a 24-tune 
music box. 

My heroes in history are Martin 
Luther, Mme. Lamballe, Abraham 
Lincoln; my favorite poems are 
Korner's "Battle Prayer," Words- 
worth's "We are Seven,"Newman's 
"Lead, Kindly Light," Luther's 
Hymn, Schiller's "The Diver," Hor- 
ace's "Pons Bandusiae," and Burns' 
"Cottar's Saturday Night. 




SjgWDISLIKE Dante 
/vvTu-i and Byron. I should 
like to have known 
Jeremiah the 
prophet, old man 
Poggio, Horace, 
Walter Scott, Bonaparte, Haw- 
thorne, Mme. Sontag, Sir John 
Herschel, Hans Andersen. 

My favorite actor is Henry Irving; 
actress, Mme. Modjeska. 
I dislike "Politics" so called. 
I should like to have the privi- 
lege of voting extended to women. 
I am unalterably opposed to cap- 
ital punishment. 

I favor a system of pensions for 
noble services in literature, art, 
science, etc. I approve of com- 
pulsory education. 



^SP| P' I had my way, I 
»^^ should make the 
yjC^ abuse of horses, 
dogs and cattle a 
penal offense; I 
should abolish all 
dog-laws and dog-catchers, and I 
would punish severely everybody 
who caught and caged birds. 

I dislike all exercise and I play 
all games very indifferently. 
I love to read in bed. 
I believe in churches and schools; 
I hate wars, armies, soldiers, guns 
and fireworks. 
I like music (limited). 
I have been a great theatre-goer. 
I enjoy the society of doctors 
and clergymen. 




3Y favorite color is 
red. 

I do not care par- 
ticularly for sculp- 
ture or for paint- 
ings; I try not to 
become interested in them, for the 
reason that if I were to cultivate a 
taste for them I should presently 
become hopelessly bankrupt. 

I am extravagantly fond of per- 
fumes. 

I am a poor diner, and I drink 
no wine or spirits of any kind; I do 
not smoke tobacco. 

I dislike crowds and I abominate 
functions. 

I am six feet in height; am of 
spare build, weigh i6o pounds and 
have shocking taste in dress. 



But I like to have well-dressed 
people about me. 

My eyes are blue, my complexion 
pale, my face is shaven and I in- 
cline to baldness. 
It is only when I look and see how 
young and fair and sweet my 
wife is that I have a 
good opinion of 
myself. 





AM fond of the 
companionship of 
women, and I have 
no unconquerable 
prejudice against 
feminine beauty. I 
recall with pride that in twenty- 
two years of active journalism, I 
have always written in reverential 
praise of womankind. 
I favor early marriage. 
I do not love all children. 
I have tried to analyze my 
feelings towards children, and I 
think I discover that I love them 
in so far as I can make pets of 
them. 

I believe that, if I live, I shall do 
my best literary work when I am 
a grandfather. 



I give these facts, confessions and 

observations for the information 

of those who, for one reason 

or another, are applying 

constantly to me for 

biographical data 

concerning 

myself. 



PRINTED FOR FRANK M. MORRIS, OF 

THE BOOK SHOP, BY R. R. DONNELLEY 

& SONS CO. AT THE LAKESIDE PRESS, 

CHICAGO, MDCCCXCVI. 



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